Freecell Strategy Guide

8 tips to win in Freecell

Let’s briefly review the advice commonly published on the Internet. It can be summarized as follows:

1. Analyze the game board – start the game by looking for Aces and 2s. Some of them can be easily moved to the foundations. Prioritize getting to the remaining ones without filling up too many free cells. In contrast to what some guides suggest, you should not go for the Aces and 2s as soon as possible. Instead, try to be strategic and consider the cost of accessing these cards early.
2. Always think ahead – don’t simply do the obvious moves but try to plan a few moves ahead. It’s important to consider each move for its long-run costs and benefits.
3. Keep free the cells empty – you should make moves that leave you with as many available free cells as possible because filling them up too quickly is a sure way to lose. Instead, try to sort out the cards in the columns and only use the free cells when absolutely necessary.
4. Empty the columns – having an empty column is so much better than having an available free cell because empty columns are more powerful when it comes to storing and moving stacks of cards. The formula for the size of the stack (s) you can move for a given number of available free cells (x) and empty columns (y) is s = (x + 1) × 2^y (see the table). If you are moving cards to an empty column, it should not be included in the formula.
5. Don’t fill the foundations too early – some cards are worth keeping on the board because you can use them to store lower cards of other suits.
6. Make a sequence starting with a King in an empty column – this may be bad advice unless you can quickly move many cards to form such a sequence. If it is not obviously beneficial, you should not focus on filling the empty columns. They are more valuable than free cells, so you should be even less eager to fill them up.
7. Don’t build long sequences in the columns because they can block the cards under the sequence – all advice regarding building sequences, whether encouraging or discouraging, is generally wrong. Building long sequences is highly situational and may or may not be beneficial, depending on the situation.
8. Use the undo button – we will not consider this as “a strategy.” Undos are not necessary if you know what you are doing.

Unfortunately, these tips, although sensible to an experienced player, seem vague to beginners who struggle to put them into practice.

Advanced Freecell Strategy: the “project” approach

Freecell, by its nature, is a strategic game. It provides you with a resource – free cells – which you must economically use to achieve the game’s objective. Sometimes, you make an investment sacrificing some of the free cells. If the investment pays off, you can eventually get your free cells back. You may even get a more valuable resource – an empty column.

Imagine that you have a real estate business. You initially have four mediocre locations. You work hard to improve your business situation. However, you can’t make progress without selling some of your locations and making an investment. You must plan ahead to make sure that the investment pays off. If it doesn’t, you may go bankrupt, and the game is over. Otherwise, you may get your old locations back or even acquire new, better ones. When you acquire all of the locations in the game (i.e., all free cells and all columns are empty), you win.

With that mindset, the game can be divided into “projects.” Some projects involve moving cards between the columns to make them more orderly. Other projects can be classified as “investment projects.” When you carry them out, you initially invest, for example, by sacrificing some of your free cells. But in the end, you expect the project to be profitable. For that to happen, you must come up with a sequence of moves that improve your situation. For example, you may devise a sequence of seven moves that leave one free cell occupied but put two cards in the foundation fields and almost clear one of the columns. This would be a successful project. After carrying it out, you should plan another project. And so on.

What makes a project successful?

• Putting cards in the foundation fields.
• Making it easier to get to the cards that can be put in the foundation fields.
• Clearing a column.
• Removing cards from the free cells.
• Making the columns more orderly.

What makes a project less successful? The opposite of the above, i.e.:

• Filling up free cells.
• Filling up empty columns.
• Making it harder to get to desired cards by cluttering the columns.

It may not be initially obvious how to prioritize these actions. This can be learned with practice; however, the examples below should give you a general idea.

Examples

One immediately apparent sequence of moves is to place the 4 of Diamonds on the 5 of Spades. This releases the Ace of Spades in column six but at the same time clutters column five, making it harder to access the Ace of Clubs. It may be a good trade-off, but can we improve it? We can use free cells to move the 3 of Spades out of the way and build a four-card stack in column six: the 6 of Diamonds, the 5 of Spades, the 4 of Diamonds, and the 3 of Spades. This way, we end up with 1) the Ace of Spades in the foundations, 2) all free cells still available, and 3) less cluttered column 5. This sequence of moves is clearly beneficial, so let’s carry it out.

Let's scrutinize the board now – we should have done it before the previous step, but the temptation to quickly free the Ace of Spades was too strong. Let’s locate all Aces and 2s. Aces are hidden deep in columns one, five, and seven. 2s are somewhat more accessible, but it doesn't help us because we must free the Aces first. The only 2 we could place in the foundations right away is the 2 of Spades, which is hidden deep in column one. This game certainly is not an easy one. What should we do?

We should create a list of “projects,” evaluate their “profitability,” and select the best one. One obvious project is to clear column one. This gives us access to the Ace of Hearts and the 2 of Spades. But what will we do with the other cards? The 6 of Spades can be placed in the eighth column, and the Jack of Hearts in column seven, but there is nowhere to place the King, Queen, 3, and 2. We can put two of these cards in the newly emptied column one, but two free cells will remain occupied. This is not encouraging.

Another possibility is to clear column five. The trouble is that of the four cards covering the Ace of Clubs only one can be easily moved somewhere else: the 6 of Clubs can be moved to the 7 of Hearts. The remaining three cards would have to be stored in the free cells and the newly emptied column five. As a result, this project looks even less favorable.

Finally, we can try to sort out column seven. The King of Clubs and the Queen of Hearts will remain in this column as a stack of two cards. We could place the 8 of Diamonds on the 9 of Spades in column four, but we first have to move the 2 of Hearts to the 3 of Spades in column six. Then, we can place the 7 of Clubs on the 8 of Diamonds. The 2 of Diamonds will go to the foundations along with the Ace of Diamonds. This will free the 5 of Hearts, which we can then use to store the 4 of Clubs. Only the Queen of Spades would have to stay in a free cell. As a result of this project, we slightly clutter column four. Fortunately, the lowest card buried in this column is a 5, and we will have much more space to maneuver before we need it. This sequence of moves is thus the best option, so let’s do it.

Currently, our goal is to dig out the Aces from columns one and five. However, in both cases, after clearing these columns, only two free cells remain available. This is risky. So, is there another project we can do first? Yes – we can clear out column six. We can do this by moving the five-card stack starting with the 6 of Diamonds to the 7 of Clubs in column four. Then, we can slide the Queen of Spades underneath the Jack of Diamonds. As a result, we will regain one free cell at a cost of heavily cluttered column four. But, as already mentioned, cluttered column four should not be a problem.

Executing this plan may initially seems impossible, because we don’t have enough free cells to move the five-card stack from column six to column four. However, we can do it in three steps: 1) temporarily store the 3 of Spades and the 2 of Hearts on the 4 of Hearts in column five, 2) move the three remaining cards to the 7 of Clubs, and 3) move the two stored cards from column five to column four.

Now, clearing column five will be much easier. It is obvious where we can place the 6 and the 9. The King can stay in the column, and we can put the entire stack from column six on it. We can keep the 4 in a free cell. As a result, we get an empty column at the cost of one free cell, which is a good trade. We also put two cards in the foundations: the Ace of Clubs and the 2 of Clubs.

We now have plenty of room to work on column one. We can place the King and the Queen in column six. The 3 and the 2 can go to column three. The Jack and the 6 will stay in the free cells. Once the Ace of Hearts goes to the foundations, many other cards will go there too. All foundation fields will be filled with cards up to a 4 except for the Clubs because the 3 of Clubs is still buried in column three. This was another project improving our overall chances: with so many cards in the foundations, one empty column, and two available free cells, it is reasonable to think that the game will be won.

Let’s move the 5 of Hearts and the 4 of Clubs – it doesn’t matter whether to column one or column eight. Now, the 3 of Clubs is free, and even more cards automatically go to the foundations, including the two we just moved.

This time, we are interested in digging out the 5 of Diamonds and the 5 of Clubs. The former is easier, so we move appropriate cards from column two to column one and column five.

Now, we finally have to free the 5 of Clubs. Column four, in which it resides, is still quite cluttered. However, the situation on the board is so good that we can move the blocking cards without any strategic concerns. The 9, 8, and 7 can go to column two, and the remaining cards can be placed in other columns. After the 5 of Clubs has been freed, more cards automatically go to the foundations.

This time, the game stopped sending the cards to the foundations because it could not access the 6 of Hearts. Let’s move the 10 of Clubs to the nearest available free cell. Then, a lot of cards can immediately go to the foundations.

We have just one final move to do – release the Jack of Spades – and the remaining cards will automatically move to the foundations. We won!

Thanks for reading our Freecell Strategy Guide! Now it’s time for you to try out the project approach in the real game of Freecell. You can also check out our other Freecell game.

Please let us know if you have any interesting strategies for beating this game. We will do our best to include them in future editions of this guide. You can contact us by email at contact@simiade.com.